I have been receiving e-mail messages from people who are following the blog on the sly, and this morning someone mentioned that he would like to hear my response to the question I asked a bit ago, What does it mean to be one?
Of course you all know that I am a bit more interested in that than I am in discovering the Ultimate Truth about Climate Change and What We Should(n't) Do About It, the answer to which is very important but seems to me is going to depend as much as anything else on your politics. As much as I care about ideas, I care more about people and relationship. (Is this a "feminine" thing?)
So here are some questions that have come to my mind as we took off into the climate thing:
1. How do we find truth (even veracity) in this Age of Information?
2. How do we trust, when Self-Interest replaces God as the ultimate guide to human behavior?
3. How are we godly together ("one") when our opinions put us at odds with one another, perhaps even passionately at odds?
To explore these questions, I propose that instead of thinking about how, oh, Christian and Mike might try to speak nicely to one another, we could imagine instead, say, that Glenn Beck and Harry Reid were to end up in the same high priests quorum.
Brother Harry and Brother Glenn would probably get along fine at a cannery assignment or during a disaster clean-up. (Neither would be very good with a chain saw, though.) But let's say they were sitting together in a priesthood lesson about Our Divinely Inspired Constitution. Or let's say the Becks and the Reids ended up in the same temple session one day and at a certain moment needed to decide whether they felt good about being there together.
As you might know, both Harry Reid and Glenn Beck are converts to the Church, each having found something profoundly helpful in the gospel and in the LDS community. I have heard each of them bear testimony to this fact. They weren't born into the Church: they CHOSE it, and they find peace and strength in their choice. (I also know that both of them meet a great deal of criticism from members of the Church, so I can only hope they can continue to find peace and strength in the community.)
I think I'll leave you for the moment with this thought experiment. If you don't know who Glenn Beck is, just think of the most vocal and uninhibited gun-totin' extreme anti-Obama Libertarian person you know. If you don't know who Harry Reid is, shame on you. I know you're busy, but you shouldn't be THAT busy.
Okay. Get back to me.
P.S. I know that some of you have begun to address this issue in your comments to previous posts. Andrea, Calvin, Graham, for example. And there are some pretty basic answers we all know. I just know that this is a day-to-day problem for me, so in my view, we can't think of it too often. I hear from many of you that you're reading the Book of Mormon with particular vigor at the moment. Some are relishing the New Testament, and we're all studying D&C this year. Anybody reading the OLD Testament? Feel free to send along favorite scriptures that address these issues.
Bottom line: What do you do with your emotions when you feel very strongly that someone else is WRONG and that someone is a brother or sister in the gospel? How do you love a nearby "enemy"? What will the Kingdom of God (say, in the millennium, on earth I mean) look like? Will we all agree on everything???? Are our disagreements merely a matter of perspective? Are they just "points of view"? Just toss these things around in your mind a bit?
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I don't pretend to have anything good to say (perhaps you'd rather I read only); still, here are a few fleeting thoughts.
ReplyDeleteConcerning question 1:
Is there really any "truth" in the realm of public policy and/or government--ignoring corner solutions of course? God, speaking through His prophets and apostles, has drawn lines in the sand concerning a few (very few) specific issues, but kept completely silent on almost everything else in the realm of contemporary politics. Could that mean that it's just not that important and, therefore, quite foolish for Beck and Reid (or any of us) to be fighting (or even getting annoyed) over it? Madison said: "If men were angels, no government would be necessary." Is government just a fundamentally flawed, human construct, designed to get people to keep the commandments who otherwise would not? Is any and every form of government, then, doomed to fail eventually? How could it succeed? What are we arguing about? Which version is worse? Which does the least damage? Which allows us to keep God's commandments the longest? Are equality and justice worthwhile if the cost is virtue?
These are not rhetorical questions.
What about other kinds of truth? God and his chosen, anointed servants are the only sources I really care about for spiritual truths. C.S. Lewis is cool (at times) but I don't quote him unless and apostle has done so first. This is my personal choice. I'm of the "better safe than sorry" mentality. I don't expect anyone to agree with it.
Concerning other truths, I like science. I'm willing to go along with it unless it contradicts God's servants. And if it does, I'm not worried. No matter what the science is, at some point it is based on assumptions. Some of these assumptions are better than others. A lot of these assumptions lead to amazing and powerful results, like live, televised Monday Night Football and March Madness, not to mention General Conference and Leadership Meetings. Other assumptions may not be so good (or completely unprovable)--I have several examples but don't want to ruffle any feathers. I really like what President Uchtdorf said in the Priesthood session (I don't have my notes handy so I'll paraphrase): "This gospel is NOT someone's best guess." For non-gospel matters, however, we have to rely on best guesses. I think that's fine as long as we keep the proper perspective and refuse to get contentious over anything. I often fail at this.
Concerning question 2:
Do we need to trust someone to love them as Christ loved them or serve them as we have covenanted to serve them? How important is trust in everyday matters? We marry and form lasting relationships with those we trust. Actually, in my experience, faith (trust in God) comes first and trust (trust in the individual) comes later. What about the rest? Do we need to trust them? Does Christ trust them? My favorite quote from President McKay is one he said to outgoing missionaries. It goes something like this: "To be trusted is a greater compliment than to be loved." I know that God loves everyone. Does He trust everyone? Can he? Can we? Should we?
Concerning question 3:
I have no idea.
Thanks, Graham. Sorry if I gave the impression that I'd rather ANYONE follow without comment. We have certainly appreciated all of your comments. I'm just glad to know people are there, even if they don't want to jump in.
ReplyDeleteI think about a lot of things you mentioned in your post Sister Thayer, and I think that you raise many excellent questions. I think I’ll only share my thoughts on question #3, since it’s the one I struggle with the most. Let me explain myself.
ReplyDeleteWhen I was a sophomore in high school, I was enrolled in AP biology. Through the course of the year I learned some of the mechanisms of evolution by natural selection. I had never thought about it before, and it troubled me. I could not then reconcile my religious views with the observations of science that were presented to me.
Thankfully, my bishop at that time also taught biology at another high school. After a long campout, I found myself in the front seat of his van; the rest of our party had fallen asleep. I asked him what he thought about evolution, and we had a long, engaging conversation. I don’t remember much of what he said, but his advice on how to act has stuck with me. He told me something to this effect: “I believe that God used evolution to create the earth. However, when someone degrades the theory in church I sit quietly and don’t say anything. Maintaining a good relationship is much more important than being right.”
I would be unfair if I did not say that doing this over the last few years has been a little bit challenging—and I’m afraid to say that I haven’t always followed my bishop’s advice. At one time, a faculty member in family life wrote a strange editorial that used outdated, already dismissed arguments to discredit evolution, so I coordinated with the Daily Universe to write an opposing viewpoint. In doing so, I tried hard to be level headed and fair with the previous author. If there was to be disagreement, it needed to be kindly spoken and collegial.
In contrast, when Charles Darwin’s Birthday was celebrated in February, I heard many troublesome insults leveled at both evolutionists and young-earth creationists. Although it sometimes hurt to do so, I chose to stand back and remain silent. Why join a fight that you know will never calm into real discourse?
I guess what I’m trying to say is that I find it hard to hold back my thoughts when I am passionate about something. Perhaps others feel the same way. But sometimes, I think we need to tame our passions and sit quietly on the back row. Perhaps we need to remember that “maintaining a good relationship is more important than being right.” I suppose there are situations where this ideal has exceptions, but I generally find it to be a useful piece of advice when dealing with conflicts.
I gotta say, as far as disagreement being a matter of perspective, it's tough to imagine that perspectives will differ greatly when we know ... um, everything. However, the gaining of knowledge is undoubtedly a progression, so I think there will be disagreement, but considering that this life is essentially for training our bodies to obey our spirits, it seems that post-millennial discussions will spiral "out of control" Never times. It's like the evil step-mother says in the Disney Cinderella: "Above all, self-control".
ReplyDeleteAs far as during the millennium, there will still be agency, as well as "the natural man" in everyone, right?. Just because Satan's not around to fan the flames doesn't mean fires won't happen.
Sometimes I'm lucky enough to remember that scripture mastery scripture ... (searches) ... 1 Corinthians 10:13: "There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it."
Whatever the temptation, we can handle it. God says so. Unfortunately, how we should handle it is unique to everyone, I think.
Sorry to double-comment, but another scripture I like is Psalm 117:
ReplyDelete"Praise the Lord for his mercy and truth.
1 O praise the Lord, all ye nations: praise him, all ye people.
2 For his merciful kindness is great toward us: and the truth of the Lord endureth for ever. Praise ye the Lord."
I have never felt strongly that one of my brethren or sisters in the gospel have been wrong about anything. (Excluding Bishop Owen, Bro Bott, Reid....)
ReplyDelete